Also keep in mind that, depending on the version of IRIX under which the backups were made, the System Manager backup tool sometimes used programs other than tar, such as cpio or bru. More info at viewtopic.php?p=7290331#p7290331

Hey now, don't forget about the Backup/Restore Manager wiki page. It includes the table of versions, links into TechPubs, and tips for reading those tapes on non-IRIX systems. If you run across something that isn't there, please feel free to edit the page and add it...

smj wrote:Hey now, don't forget about the Backup/Restore Manager wiki page. It includes the table of versions, links into TechPubs, and tips for reading those tapes on non-IRIX systems. If you run across something that isn't there, please feel free to edit the page and add it...

Sorry about that! You are right - the wiki page is the place to go for info about the IRIX Backup and Restore Manager. Nice job on the page!

josehill wrote:Sorry about that! You are right - the wiki page is the place to go for info about the IRIX Backup and Restore Manager.

Thanks for the kind words. The wiki is (hopefully) a good resource, but certainly not the only one. Please keep sharing links to threads that you have bookmarked, etc - there's often helpful yet tangential information that wouldn't show up in any one wiki page.

And everybody bear in mind, you can create an account and create or edit a page in the wiki yourselves. If you had to spend several hours digging around for a solution, odds are somebody else will be in the same boat one day - consider adding what you learned to an existing page, or create a new one.

the MAKEDEV script creates the nrtape etc links to /hw/rmt/ devices when they exist. but there are special ioctls that need to be called on the tape device when it is used, that's why I recommend native irix tar.